The Wolf God's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 135: Reborn in Shadow

My senses were sharpening in ways I never thought possible things no ordinary human could ever comprehend. My nose caught Zaliver’s rich, dark scent even though I couldn’t physically touch him anymore. My heartbeat slowed to a deep, steady rhythm, but oddly, it sounded louder inside my ears. I barely noticed how vastly different my limbs felt, or the strange, smooth fur covering my skin, while my mind remained impossibly clear, sharp, and still unmistakably me.

The pouring rain had stopped some moments ago, but the earth beneath us remained cold and damp. Somehow, I wasn’t cold anymore.

A strange, involuntary gasp escaped me as the blinding pain that had gripped my body finally receded, pooling quietly into my chest. My jaw shifted and my mouth opened, revealing razor-sharp, much larger teeth. This was the moment my agony was finally ending.

Then, with one last wrenching twist deep in my chest, everything stopped. The pain, the aching muscles, the bone-deep exhaustion it all vanished in a single breath. My eyes were still closed, but I heard Zaliver shifting beside me, his massive bones cracking and popping as he transformed smoothly into his beast form.

I realized right then that the beast in my mind the one that had once lurked quietly in the dark shadows with her head tilted was no longer waiting outside. Because now, I was the crouched beast.

It felt like I was being born again.

Carefully, without opening my eyes, I straightened up onto all fours. I fully expected to stumble, to fall awkwardly like a newborn wolf trying to find her feet, but I stood completely steady strong, graceful, and agile. Drawing in a deep breath of the rain-washed air, I opened my eyes.

The world snapped into stunning, terrifying clarity. I could pick out every individual leaf on the distant trees, every tiny rock far across the forest floor, and I saw Zaliver standing towering before me, even without the light of the moon. I’d been too terrified the first time I saw his beast form to really look. Now, I took it all in.

His thick fur matched the pitch-black color of his jet-black hair, catching a silvery, ethereal gleam in the shadows. Judging by how high my shoulders stood off the ground, I knew Zaliver’s physical traits still dominated he was larger, more muscular, and still taller than me, though far less intimidating than when we were human. His deep black eyes held an ancient intelligence that pierced straight through me, as if weighing every single part of who I had just become.

"Vivian?" His voice echoed clearly and smoothly inside my mind.

Something powerful stirred deep within me at the sound familiar, grounding, and intoxicating.

"Yes?" I answered through the bond, my thoughts clear and surprisingly composed.

"Come. Run with me." He crouched slightly, his dark eyes shining with an irresistible invitation.

Running. The urge called to me instantly, whether on two legs or four. I could feel the infinite possibilities of this powerful new form coursing wildly through my veins.

"Alright." Pure excitement and adrenaline surged through my chest. Running had always been a core part of who I was no matter what shape I took.

I was the first to take off into the dark. The moment I surge forward, the cool air around me shifted, suddenly charged with the raw thrill of the hunt the chase fully alive beneath my skin. I moved faster than I had ever imagined possible. The world blurred and sharpened all at once massive trees streaking past, yet each intricate detail remained crystal clear in my mind. My reflexes took over before my brain even fully registered what lay ahead; I leaped, ducked, and dodged through the thick forest with instinctive, dangerous grace.